Government COVID-19 Support Extension on the Job Retention Scheme – Updated 5 November 2020
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been extended until March 2021. Furloughed employees can receive 80% of pay for hours not worked and businesses asked only to cover National Insurance and employer pension contributions.
Extending the Coronavirus Jobs Retention Scheme (CJRS)
• The CJRS has been extended until the end of March for all parts of the UK. This policy will be reviewed in January to decide whether economic circumstances are improving enough to ask employers to contribute more. The Job Support Scheme is postponed.
• Eligible employees will receive 80% of their usual salary for hours not worked, up to a maximum of £2,500 per month.
• Employer flexibility: Businesses will have flexibility to use the scheme for employees for any amount of time and shift pattern, including furloughing them full-time.
• Employer contribution: There will be NO employer contribution to wages for hours not worked.
• Employers will only be asked to cover National Insurance and Employer pension contributions for hours not worked. For an average claim, this accounts for just 5% of total employment costs or £70 per employee per
month.
• Payment: The extended CJRS will operate as the previous Scheme did, with businesses being able to claim either shortly before, during or after running payroll. Claims can be made from 8am Wednesday 11 November.
Claims made for November must be submitted to HMRC by no-later than 14 December 2020. Claims relating to each subsequent month should be submitted by day 14 of the following month, to ensure prompt claims
following the end of the month which is the subject of the claim.
• Employee eligibility: Neither the employer nor the employee needs to have previously claimed or have been claimed for under CJRS to make a claim under the extended CJRS (if other eligibility criteria are met). Claims
can be made for employees who were on the payroll on 30 October 2020. The employer must have made a PAYE Real Time Information (RTI) submission to HMRC between 20 March 2020 and 30 October 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for that employee.
• Employees that are re-employed: Employees that were employed and on the payroll on 23 September 2020 (the day before the Job Support Scheme announcement) who were made redundant or stopped working afterwards can be re-employed and claimed for. The employer must have made an RTI submission to HMRC from 20 March 2020 to September 2020, notifying a payment of earnings for those employees.
• Job Retention Bonus (JRB) The JRB will not be paid in February and the Treasury has indicated that the funding will be been redeploy at the appropriate time in the future. The purpose of the JRB was to encourage
employers to keep people in work until the end of January. However, as the CJRS is being extended to the end of March, the policy intent of the JRB falls away.